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Technology Policy

ECA SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR & 2018 CONVENTION TECHNOLOGY COORDINATOR

Statement of Challenge: The decision to provide technology at the annual meeting of the Eastern Communication Association is a difficult one. ECA must balance the fact that we are a communicationassociation with the fiscal reality: Technology use is expensive.

Statement of Usage: All requests for technology must be made by the Interest Group Program Planner at the time of final program submissions (normally, this is around mid-November). Any requests made after that time will not be honored. Upon receiving those requests, the Convention Planner will review the importance and necessity of the requests, examining the individual submission and its purpose. Those programs ranked highest by the program planner that incorporate technology will be given priority. Those with lower rankings will likely not allow technology to be included in the program.

The decision to provide technology will be guided by 1) the Convention Planner’s budget, 2) the need and necessity of the technology for the execution of the program, and 3) the availability of technology. In some cases, the ECA 2nd Vice-President’s school may be able to assist in securing technology. However, ECA Convention Planners should not expect this assistance.

ECA will not approve requests for the following technology: personal computers, laser printers, satellite links, teleconference equipment, LCD panels and projectors, video data projects, and digital versatile/video disc equipment. Although ECA members may wish to rent this equipment from the hotel at their own expense, those individuals are responsible for the equipment, including protecting it from damage and theft. Further, ECA is not responsible for this equipment. Finally, the hotel should not be expected to provide service for, or assistance with, personal technology that is brought into the hotel. Although every effort will be made to provide technology as requested, the Convention Planner will necessarily examine whether the integrity of the submission will be jeopardized if technology is not available.

Approved by ECA Executive Council, 4/29/07

To view and print this information in PDF, please click the link below:

The Planners of your ECA Conventions recognize the ethical and legal considerations of sharing content from Convention sessions via social media. We ask that no content be recorded or broadcast by session attendees without prior notification of all session participants.

In this vein, all Convention attendees should be aware that during our annual conventions, a team of social media interns – under the direction of the ECA Interim Social and Digital Media Director - are recruited to share various Convention activities (including photos and video) via the Association’s official online mediums:

These social media interns will provide notification cards to session presenters prior to the initial session remarks. The interns have received extensive training on social media ethics and practice and are being coached and supervised by ECA faculty. Their efforts and the direct use of social media for the purpose of the ECA Convention stem from our initial rollout of ECA social media at the 2014 Providence convention, which was generally well-received by the membership where many members requested that ECA do more to promote the association’s social media presence both within and outside the membership.

Our continuing social media efforts and those that follow are a way to help members stay connected before, during, and after the annual Convention, as well as provide platforms for deliberation and discussion throughout the year. The platforms also allow us to expand the reach of our scholarship beyond only those members who attend ECA – but to a variety of colleagues, students, press, policy makers, and the general public.

Should you wish to abstain from posts regarding your session, please inform the intern when presented with the notification card. If you have any concerns or questions about ECA’s usage of convention content via social media, you are encouraged to contact ECA Social and Digital Media Director, Doug Strahler, at douglas.strahler@sru.edu.